September NPD at a glance

The NPD Group has released its September report, showing Sony once again in the lead in the US market.

The PS4 was the top-selling hardware yet again. Although Sony didn’t provide numbers, Geoff Keighley said PS4 sales tripled when compared to August.

The PS4 seems to have done well in software, too. According to Activision’s estimates, the PS4 is the most popular platform for Destiny, and Sony said it nabbed a larger market share with Madden NFL 15, NHL 15 and FIFA 15, too.

Nintendo had a good month, and released some sales figures. Super Smash Bros. 3DS sold 705,000 units in its first two days, of which 135,000 were eShop sales.

Hardware sales saved the day, though, increasing 136% year on year to $432.7 million. That brought industry total spend to $1.1 billion, a 2% increase in September 2013. Nice.

Software chart

NPD analyst Liam Callahan noted that if the top ten chart was ordered by single-platform SKU rather than lumping all versions together, Hyrule Warriors would have placed.

One other little interesting point is that according to this chart, Destiny sold more strongly on Xbox One than PS4. Since the chart only covers traditional retail, and doesn’t include hardware bundles, the PS4 version won out via digital sales and the Glacier White bundle. Does that mean Xbox One users are less comfortable with digital sales than PS4 owners? What impression of the two consoles’ performance does that give retailers?

September software Top 10 (new physical retail only)

Destiny (Xbox One, PS4, Xbox 360, PS3)

Madden NFL 15 (Xbox 360, PS4, PS3, Xbox One)

FIFA 15 (PS4, Xbox 360, PS3, Xbox One, Wii, Vita, 3DS)

Super Smash Bros. (3DS)

Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor (PS4, Xbox One, PC)

NHL 15 (PS4, Xbox One, Xbox 360, PS3)

Minecraft (Xbox 360, PS3)

The Sims 4 (PC)

Disney Infinity 2.0 (Xbox 360, PS3, Wii U, PS4, Xbox One)

Diablo 3: Reaper of Souls (PS4, Xbox 360, PS3, Xbox One, PC)

Reminder: the NPD’s monthly report only covers traditional retail and as such represents a decreasing percentage of total industry sales.